Archives of dermatology最新文献

Objective: To validate the Person-Centered Dermatology Self-Care Index (PeDeSI) as a tool for clinical assessment and for potential use in research evaluation.

Design: To date, no validated assessment measures exist to identify the education and support needs of patients living with long-term dermatological conditions and to enable them to self-manage as effectively as possible. The PeDeSI assessment tool was developed to meet this need using the self-efficacy construct and a model of concordance within prescribing practice. In total, 200 copies of the PeDeSI were distributed for validation, and 145 (72.5%) were returned completed. Data were analyzed using statistical software. Frequency distributions of all items were examined, and internal consistency was summarized using Cronbach α. Exploratory factor analysis was used to disclose any underlying structure among the data items. SETTING Three specialist dermatology centers in acute care hospitals.

Participants: Dermatology specialist nurses treating patients with chronic dermatoses.

Intervention: A PeDeSI was completed with each patient during his or her usual outpatient consultation.

Main outcome measure: Cronbach α.

Results: Cronbach α was 0.90, indicating good internal consistency. Eliminating individual items in turn made little difference in Cronbach α (range, 0.89-0.90). Item total correlations ranged from 0.44 to 0.76 (median, 0.68). Exploratory factor analysis extracted just one factor (eigenvalue, 5.37), with no other factors having eigenvalues exceeding 1.00. Factor loadings on individual items ranged from 0.47 to 0.80. CONCLUSION The PeDeSI is a valid, reliable, and clinically practical tool to systematically assess the education and support needs of patients with long-term dermatological conditions and to promote treatment concordance.

Background: Paraphenylenediamine (PPD) in hair dyes can cause systemic as well as cutaneous allergic reactions such as neutrophilic and eosinophilic dermatitis. The symptoms are often severe. The acute lesion is normally histologically indistinguishable from any eczematous reaction with marked spongiosis.

Observations: We report a case of allergic contact dermatitis caused by the use of hair dye containing PPD that developed in a patient who had been using the same hair dye for many years. Her symptoms included scalp dermatitis and widespread skin lesions as well as lymphadenopathy and quite possibly dyspnea resembling asthma. What is most remarkable about this case is the histopathologic finding of neutrophilic cellulitis and a marked neutrophilic infiltrate with variable spongiosis. This unique finding was confirmed by histologic analysis of a patch test lesion specimen.

Conclusion: It is always important to consider contact allergic dermatitis as a cause of dermatitis because of the variable presentation of the disease, including unique histologic findings that do not fit the conventional picture, as in the present case.

OBJECTIVE To assess whether patients with psoriasis treated with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors have a decreased risk of myocardial infarction (MI) compared with those not treated with TNF inhibitors. DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. SETTING Kaiser Permanente Southern California health plan. PATIENTS Patients with at least 3 International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification, codes for psoriasis (696.1) or psoriatic arthritis (696.0) (without antecedent MI) between January 1, 2004, and November 30, 2010. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Incident MI. RESULTS Of 8845 patients included, 1673 received a TNF inhibitor for at least 2 months (TNF inhibitor cohort), 2097 were TNF inhibitor naive and received other systemic agents or phototherapy (oral/phototherapy cohort), and 5075 were not treated with TNF inhibitors, other systemic therapies, or phototherapy (topical cohort). The median duration of follow-up was 4.3 years (interquartile range, 2.9, 5.5 years), and the median duration of TNF inhibitor therapy was 685 days (interquartile range, 215, 1312 days). After adjusting for MI risk factors, the TNF inhibitor cohort had a significantly lower hazard of MI compared with the topical cohort (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.32-0.79). The incidence of MI in the TNF inhibitor, oral/phototherapy, and topical cohorts were 3.05, 3.85, and 6.73 per 1000 patient-years, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Use of TNF inhibitors for psoriasis was associated with a significant reduction in MI risk and incident rate compared with treatment with topical agents. Use of TNF inhibitors for psoriasis was associated with a non-statistically significant lower MI incident rate compared with treatment with oral agents/phototherapy.

BACKGROUND Given the natural tendency for 15% to 40% of infantile hemangiomas to spontaneously involute over time, much debate surrounds the issue of treatment. Until recently, effective therapies to improve the appearance of residual textural skin changes in these patients were lacking. We suggest the use of ablative fractional resurfacing for the treatment of textural skin changes resulting from involuted hemangiomas. OBSERVATIONS All patients treated with an ablative fractional carbon dioxide laser experienced considerable flattening of the fibrofatty residual tissue, with at least 50% to 75% improvement in color, texture, and overall appearance. CONCLUSION While additional future studies are needed, we believe that ablative fractional resurfacing should be considered for the treatment of textural skin changes associated with involuted infantile hemangiomas.